現代國家建設視野下的新生活運動與法治

“New Life Movement”and the Rule of Law in the Vision of Modern State-building

國民政府所倡導的新生活運動和所施行的法治都旨在建設一個現代國家。新生活運動的性質是以教養國民和建設國家為目標的德治。〈新生活運動綱要〉、國民黨重要領導人以及時人輿論，在理論上認為或期待新生活運動除能補充法律治理的不足外，還能為法治奠定道德基礎，以使法律實施富有實效。通過道德的法律強制，法治在新生活運動推行過程中發揮著重要的作用。然而，以法律力量強制推行新運無視民眾切身利益和切實需求，模糊了公域與私域之間的界限，對國民生活造成不必要的幹擾。新生活運動為推進現代國家建設所試圖達致的紀律化、軍事化等整齊劃一式的要求，使德治退化成一種「規訓」治理，難以為法治奠定相應的道德基礎。由此，時人所期待的新生活運動與法治之間相輔相成的關係在實踐中未能彰顯。新生活運動這一未竟的課題在之後中國歷史不同時期、不同地域都被呈現出來，也為在現代國家建設中如何處理好法治與德治之間的關係提供了有益的啟示。

"The New Life Movement launched by the Kuomintang government and its goal of achieving the rule of law both aimed at building a modern in China. The nature of the New Life Movement was to rule by virtue with the goal of nurturing the people and building the state. The Outline of the New Life Movement, leaders of KMT, and the public opinion of the time all considered, in theory, or expect that the New Life Movement would lay a moral foundation for the rule of law thereby the law could be implemented effectively. Through legal enforcement of morality, the law played an important part in promoting the New Life Movement. However, the legal enforcement of the New Life Movement ignored the vital interests and practical needs of the people, blurred the boundaries between the public domain and the private domain, and caused unnecessary interference with the lives of the people. The goal of militarization and uniformity that the New Life Movement tried to achieve had degraded the rule of virtue into a governance by“discipline”, and made it was difficult to lay the proper moral foundation for the rule of law. As a result, the complementary relationship between the New Life Movement and the rule of law that people had expected was not demonstrated in practice. The unfinished project of the New Life Movement was later presented in different periods of history and regions of China. Nevertheless, it helped to shed light on the relationship between the rule of law and the rule of virtue in the modern state-building."